China Construction Bank Corp. (939), the nations second-largest lender, bought an office building in London for 110 million pounds ($187 million) as it expands in Europe after becoming the citys first yuan clearing bank.

Construction Bank will use the 122,880 square feet (11,420 square meters), seven-story building on 111 Old Broad Street as its European headquarters, Knight Frank LLP, which advised on the sale, said in an e-mailed statement today. The seller, Belgian bank KBC Groep NV, will remain in the building under a lease agreement.

The lender follows other Chinese financial firms including China Life Insurance Co. and Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. in buying real estate in London, which has emerged as a haven for foreign wealth. Londons prime rents may rise substantially in next three to four years amid an U.K. economic recovery and shortage of office space, according to Knight Frank.

China Life, the nations largest insurer, last week bought 70 percent of an office tower in London in a deal with a total value of 795 million pounds. Ping An Insurance, the second biggest, agreed to buy in July 2013 the Lloyds of London building from a Commerz Real AG-managed fund for 260 million pounds, according to people familiar with the matter.

Beijing-based Construction Bank last week won its first yuan-clearing mandate in London as China seeks to bolster global usage of the currency. The pound also became the fifth major currency to trade directly against the yuan in Shanghai.

At the end of 2013, Construction Bank had operations in 15 countries and regions, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Frankfurt, Luxembourg and New York. Its total overseas assets surged 41 percent last year to 732 billion yuan ($118 billion) while pretax profit gained 23 percent to 3.9 billion yuan, according to its annual report.

(An earlier version of the story corrected the floor area of the building.)

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Jun Luo in Shanghai at jluo6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chitra Somayaji at csomayaji@bloomberg.net Gregory Turk, Allen Wan

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China Construction Bank Buys London Office for $187 Million

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) June 26, 2014

Gilbane Building Company announced the recent hire of John Eckerle as Project Executive for the Chicago office. He has extensive experience in the management and field supervision of engineering and construction of government and private facilities. In his role, he will be responsible for overseeing the Chicago Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) McCormick Place Development projects.

He is the perfect fit for our MPEA McCormick Place Development project. He has worked on various projects for McCormick Place including the New South Building, Lakeside Center Renovations, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Parking Garage, Meeting and Corporate Center, as well as, the relocation of streets and highways to accommodate expansion, said Fred Borich, Gilbane Senior Manager of Business Development.

Eckerle brings more than 47 years of construction experience to his role as Project Executive. Prior to joining Gilbane, Eckerle was Vice President at AECOM, where he began his career as a Field Engineer.

A graduate of the University of Florida and Texas A&M, and a Project Management Professional (PMP), Eckerle has strong industry connections and has served on the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) Membership Committee as the Chairperson and the American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois.

About Gilbane, Inc. Gilbane provides a full slate of construction and facilities-related services from pre-construction planning and integrated consulting capabilities to comprehensive construction management, close-out and facility management services for clients across various markets. Founded in 1873 and still a privately held, family-run company, Gilbane has more than 50 offices worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.gilbaneco.com.

Gilbanes Chicago office has been providing building construction management, program management, design-build and general contracting services since 1978. Gilbanes overall approach includes owner and design team support in all facets of preconstruction, construction, move-in, testing, and commissioning. ####

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Gilbane Building Company Hires New Project Executive in Chicago Office

Rendering Courtesy of NBBJ

Amazon's "Rufus" headquarters project commands three city blocks in downtown Seattle and features three interconnected glass-and-steel domes.

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After five years of slow or no growth across many construction sectors, the technology industry's demand for new building stands out. While most markets are only gradually digging their way toward recovery, office starts in many regions are taking off, thanks in part to tech firms seeking more space for operations such as administration and data storage.

Much of the office activity is occurring in well-known tech hot spots, such as Seattle, where Amazon is building a 3.3-million-sq-ft new headquarters campus that consumes three downtown city blocks. In 2013, the city's office starts soared to $709 million, up 205% year-over-year, according to the latest revised data from McGraw Hill Construction Dodge (see table).

Analysts attribute most of the increase to Amazon's massive, three-phased project, dubbed Rufus 2.0, which includes three interconnected spherical glass-and-steel domes that can accommodate mature trees and plants from around the world. But Microsoft, Google and other tech firms also are building, expanding or renovating in the region.

"Office-building construction in Seattle is far ahead of [most] everyone else, largely because of Amazon and the high-tech sector," says Cliff Brewis, senior editorial operations director at Dodge, which shares the same ownership as this publication.

Office construction is up by about 100% or more in 19 of the 75 metro regions Dodge tracks. Some are dubbed "tech pockets," which include the San Francisco region (up 386%), where Apple is about to start building its new, $2.5- billion headquarters in Cupertino; Facebook's $435-million West Campus expansion of its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters is under way; and Samsung America is erecting a $200-million headquarters in San Jose, Calif.

Not all the office sector's growth can be attributed to the tech industry. However, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft as well as smaller dot-coms are expanding their operations and kick-starting markets in select regions.

"Typically, white-collar employment results in absorption of office space, which leads to construction demand," Brewis says. The tech firms typically build offices near major universities in cities with good transit, housing and other amenities. "There's no doubt about the fact that techand all the new creative work being done, the new firms being created the wealth they are seeingis just incredible," Brewis says. "It results in hiring and offices going up in those marketplaces where tech plays a significant role."

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Demand From Tech Sector Helps to Reboot Office Market

Two major developments are bringing hundreds of engineering and high-tech jobs into Bells Corners, creating momentum for the oft-overlooked west-end neighbourhood.

Photo by Michael Hammond

Construction is underway on a new three-storey office building for engineering firm Golder Associates in Bells Corners.

By Michael Hammond

Construction recently began on a three-storey, 65,850-square-foot office building in the Bells Corners Technology Park, home to General Dynamics Canada. The new facility will be accompanied by the renovation of an existing 17,000-square-foot building, both of which will house the new Ottawa campus for engineering firm Golder Associates.

The $8.4-million project marks the first major commercial construction in Bells Corners in years.

Golders move from its Kanata location on Steacie Drive, combined with the growth of tech firm Fortinet, has injected optimism into Bells Corners at a time when commercial vacancy rates in Kanata remain the highest in the city at 13.4 per cent.

Earlier this year, Fortinet filled a long-vacant 27,000-square-foot space in the Lynwood Centre plaza on Robertson Road, bringing its workforce in the community to 125. That includes its engineering office on Moodie Drive.

Michael Anderson, Fortinets vice-president of global services and support, said the company will have as many as 160 employees by the end of the year and will add at least 100 more in 2015.

It was really important for us to be close to our facility on Moodie Drive, Mr. Anderson said, adding that the company did not want to disrupt its workforce. There were other choices in that area.

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Bells Corners office market bounces back

Office buildings are going up faster than airplanes in the Pittsburgh International Airport corridor these days.

The latest is a 16.2-acre, one- or two-building flex office development on Industry Drive in Findlay being planned by Oxford Development Company.

Allegheny County Airport Authority board members approved a 50-year lease agreement with the Downtown developer Friday to build on land adjacent to the Thermo Fisher Scientific building.

Oxford is considering two options for the property either one large 95,000-square-foot class A flex office building or two smaller ones, said Shawn Fox, director of business development.

Either way, it plans to start construction by the end of the year and have the space ready for a tenant by next summer, he said.

If two are built, the first would total about 50,000 square feet. A second building, about 45,000 square feet, would be erected after Oxford finds tenants for the first. It would be built within 30 months.

Oxford initially planned for two buildings, but is holding open the option for a single larger one because there are several potential big users in the market that might be interested in such a facility, Mr. Fox said.

It plans to build on speculation, meaning without a signed tenant. Mr. Fox said Oxford is comfortable doing so because of the strength of the market and the demand for office space.

Theres a lot of growth in the Parkway West market past the [Interstate] 79 interchange, and theres been a movement to this class A flex office space because its a little bit cheaper of a price point, because of the efficiency factor for tenants, he said.

Oxford will pay $95,000 in the first year to lease the land, with the amount increasing over the course of the 50-year agreement.

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Developer signs deal to build office buildings near Pittsburgh International Airport

Office buildings are going up faster than airplanes in the Pittsburgh International Airport corridor these days.

The latest is a 16.2-acre, one- or two-building flex office development on Industry Drive in Findlay being planned by Oxford Development Company.

Allegheny County Airport Authority board members approved a 50-year lease agreement with the Downtown developer Friday to build on land adjacent to the Thermo Fisher Scientific building.

Oxford is considering two options for the property either one large 95,000-square-foot class A flex office building or two smaller ones, said Shawn Fox, director of business development.

Either way, it plans to start construction by the end of the year and have the space ready for a tenant by next summer, he said.

If two are built, the first would total about 50,000 square feet. A second building, about 45,000 square feet, would be erected after Oxford finds tenants for the first. It would be built within 30 months.

Oxford initially planned for two buildings, but is holding open the option for a single larger one because there are several potential big users in the market that might be interested in such a facility, Mr. Fox said.

It plans to build on speculation, meaning without a signed tenant. Mr. Fox said Oxford is comfortable doing so because of the strength of the market and the demand for office space.

Theres a lot of growth in the Parkway West market past the [Interstate] 79 interchange, and theres been a movement to this class A flex office space because its a little bit cheaper of a price point, because of the efficiency factor for tenants, he said.

Oxford will pay $95,000 in the first year to lease the land, with the amount increasing over the course of the 50-year agreement.

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Latest Pittsburgh International Airport corridor development takes flight

June 11, 2014 11:24 PM Share with others:

By Andrea Iglar

Findlay supervisors tonight voted 3-0 to approve construction of a 90,113-square-foot office building on 12 acres in RIDC Park West.

The plan includes a single-story building at 130 Enterprise Drive with 450 parking spacesabout 150 more than the township requires.

Thats at the request of the applicant because of the amount of employees that will be there, township planning director Chris Caruso said.

Scott Caplan of Pittsburgh, a representative of developer Clayco Realty Group, said the building would accommodate about 400 employees of a company he declined to name.

We have a Fortune 100 company, and were under a confidentiality agreement, he said.

He hoped to start construction in August.

Clayco Realty Group, with offices in Chicago and St. Louis, is a full-service real estate development team involved in commercial, industrial, residential, mixed-use and hospitality projects, according to its website.

Andrea Iglar, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.

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Findlay approves office building for 400 employees in RIDC Park West

Sure, there has been $150 million in development between the North Shore stadiums in the past decade, but where are the apartments? And why is the newest office construction only three stories high?

Frank Kass is ready for questions like this. Hes the Columbus, Ohio, developer who has partnered with the Steelers and Pirates to build the hotels, office buildings, bars and restaurants betwixt the stadia. There the teams have development rights they must use or lose.

Its something of a balancing act. Every new building takes away surface parking even as it adds parkers. The Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority built a $29 million, 1,255-space parking garage eight years ago to replace some of what was lost, but that now fills every weekday morning as commuters access free subway rides Downtown.

Mr. Kass Continental Real Estate Companies expects to break ground on a 10-story apartment building across Mazeroski Way from PNC Park next spring, but that must be complemented by a new garage or two with as many as 750 spaces to accommodate both new renters and current parkers.

Nobodys going to want to pay 2 grand to rent a 900-square-foot luxury apartment if it doesnt include private parking, Mr. Kass said. His group speaks from experience. It built the Arena Crossing Apartments across from where the Columbus Blue Jackets play hockey.

Two grand is more than most can afford, but the hot rental market Downtown suggests that these apartments should easily attract enough empty-nesters and single professionals desiring a view of both the ballpark and the Golden Triangle with their morning coffee.

Such residences were always part of the citys plan. When Continental submitted its North Shore Master Plan a dozen years ago, no fewer than five buildings east of the Fort Duquesne Bridge called for first-floor retail with residential above, but a hotel and an office building are the results there thus far.

Everything from the worldwide recession (and the subsequent tightening of bank credit) to construction of the North Shore Connector slowed development, Mr. Kass and his sports team partners said. That subway was tunneled beneath where they needed to build, and for a long time it left a big mound of dirt where they might have built.

That same subway is now a great amenity, however. Tom Armstrong, who chaired the city Planning Commission for more than a decade ending in 2005, has been disappointed by recent low-risk additions by Continental. The three-story office/retail buildings now under construction stand across North Shore Drive from taller buildings facing Point State Park. Theyre like putting the little guys in the back row of the photo opportunity, Mr. Armstrong said.

Mr. Kass said he could have built taller buildings with 150 percent more office space and then tried to fill them with tenants who would have no place to park. Or he could have gone broke because he couldnt fill them, he said.

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Apartments finally part of North Shore development

FAIRMONT Because of a great willingness to work and teamwork among the contractor and local subcontractors, the West Virginia State Office Complex on Adams Street in Fairmont is right on track, according to Ned Luthy, project architect and principal with Omni Associates.

Theyre all just willing to jump in and get it done, Luthy said. Every subcontractor thats on the project is engaged.

Coordinating subcontractors can get complicated. Thats why Luthy said they spent extra time early on in the project setting a plan in place.

We did a lot of that effort, and I think were reaping that benefit now, Luthy said.

Luthy said that part of what makes working with the local subcontractors work so well is the people themselves.

Theyre working together because theyre West Virginia people, Luthy said. They have a lot of pride in their craft, and in getting the job done.

Among both the contractor and the subcontractors, Luthy said the workers have a lot of pride in their work.

Theres certainly something that drives everybody thats beyond the contract, Luthy said. Theyre getting it done above and beyond that across the board.

Luthy said that this stage in the project is the heaviest for the billing cycles.

Weve got construction going on, a large crane on Adams Street and on Quincy. Weve got exterior construction and a tremendous amount of interior construction, and were taking advantage of the weather, Luthy said.

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Office complex construction on track

With a legal challenge now out of the way, state officials will move forward this summer with the construction of a new office building for the Minnesota Senate.

Former Republican state Rep. Jim Knoblach of St. Cloud filed a lawsuit last year to try to stop construction of the building on the grounds that the Legislature improperly included it in a tax bill instead of a construction bill. In February, a Ramsey County judge dismissed the suit.

Previously: Legal fight over Senate building takes new turn

When Knoblach appealed, a three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in May that he would have to post an $11 million bond for the suit to proceed. After the Minnesota Supreme Court agreed this month, Knoblach dropped the appeal.

But that hasn't stopped Republicans from hammering away at Democrats for their support of the contentious $90 million project. It's a key part of the GOP message on the campaign trail.

Republican candidates argue that the new building is unnecessary and wasteful. DFL leaders view it as a reasonable solution to a serious space shortage caused by the renovation of the State Capitol.

Gov. Mark Dayton supports the project, even though he criticized an early design for the building as lavish and "un-Minnesotan." Dayton describes the building as integral to the Capitol restoration.

"If you don't have somewhere to put Senators during the final phase of the reconstruction of the Capitol, you don't have a functioning Legislature," Dayton said. "And if you don't have a place for them to go, you have very tight quarters and limited opportunities to use the Capitol as I believe it should be. It should be largely available to the public. It will be an issue like many other issues, and people will have to decide for themselves."

A recent KSTP poll found the public disapproval of the building at 68 percent. The four Republicans trying to unseat Dayton are making it a campaign issue, and so are their allies. The group Americans for Prosperity highlighted the issue in a new radio ad slamming Dayton.

"Let's not forget that he spent $90 million for a brand new office building for state Senators...and new offices for himself too," an announcer says in the ad. "So, Mark Dayton is building places for politicians while we struggle to make ends meet."

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GOP hammers DFL on Senate building